Victor Carl - The Irresponsible Reader

Hostile Witness

Hardcover, 501 pages
Published May 1st 1995 by ReganBooks
Read: December 2 – 6, 2014So this summer, on the recommendation of a reader, I read Marked Man, the sixth book about Victor Carl, the unfortunately named Philadelphia lawyer. I wasn’t wowed by it, but I enjoyed it enough that I wanted to go back to the beginning and try at least one more in the series.

I’m not convinced that was such a great idea. It wasn’t until the last 100 pages that I cared about anything going on in this book — I even started to really like it, actually. But 80% of the way through a book is far too late for that.

My main problem with the book is the characterization of Victor Carl. He’s still at the beginning of his career, but not so fresh that he should be so naïve. For most of the novel, like an obedient show dog, Carl’s led around by his greed, ambition, and that part of anatomy not known for its thinking skills. It’s hard to watch someone who should be a bit more cynical to act this way. If he was truly wet behind the ears, if he was really that young, if he was Forrest Gump — it might be different. But a kid who worked his way up from his beginnings through law school and a few years of practice should know better. Even as fresh to the profession as he is, Victor comes across as too world weary to get taken in so easily.

The book is easily one hundred pages longer than it needed to be — if not more — but most of the extra time is justifiable, and I only noticed it because I wasn’t really enjoying things.

The sense of place is strong. I know next to nothing about Philly. Lashner’s writing at least makes me feel I understand it a bit. The way that (early) Parker, Lehane and Tapply helped me think I understand Boston. Or a few dozen authors make me think I understand parts of New York City.

Obviously, over the course of a long series things are going to change in a character — either because the author changes his mind/forgets something (Inspector Cramer chewing rather than smoking cigars, Spenser’s time in the prosecutor’s office changing counties) or there’s some sort of character growth. So it’s not surprising that Victor in book 1 would be different in book 6. I don’t remember his eyes watering whenever he’s in a confrontation from Marked Man, but it’s all over the place here. Did he grow out of it? Did Lashner just drop it? Is my memory bad? (I’m leaning towards “no” based on how often he’s mentioning it here, he’d have to mention it a lot then).

No matter what, I can’t begrudge the time spent with this book because it introduced me to Morris Kapustin — the elderly, Orthodox Jewish P.I. He’s funny, he’s easy to underestimate and overlook. Really funny to read. I’d read a Kapustin series in a heartbeat — I’d probably collect first editions of them. Sadly, something tells me that character won’t be around long.

This was good enough to justify the effort, but not so good that I could really recommend. I’m mildly curious about the new phase of Victor’s career, and how that gets him to Marked Man, but not overly so. I might be back for #2 if I hit a lull next year, but I’m not going to exert a lot of effort to pick it up.

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2 1/2 Stars

Marked Man

Hardcover, 421 pg.
William Morrow & Company, 2006
Read: June 6 – 10, 2014

I picked this one up on the recommendation of a reader. Normally, I don’t like to step into a series 6 books in, but every now and then I throw caution to the wind.

So Victor Carl is a criminal lawyer of some repute, but most of it not that positive, he has some serious relationship issues, a father in poor health, and an odd taste in clients. He’s got an investigator (whose name escapes me, and I’ve already returned the book) who seems awfully good at his job, has a strange speech pattern, and disappears completely and inexplicably half-way through the book. He’s got a partner in his law firm going though some sort of existential crisis that I’d probably only understand if I’d read the previous books.

Carl’s got a headache of a case at the beginning of the novel — an elderly Greek woman is on her deathbed (I only mention her ethnicity because she can’t seem to go more than a sentence without bringing it up) and she wants to say goodbye to her son, a fugitive. Carl’s job is to arrange with the authorities for that meeting to occur. It doesn’t take long for Carl to find out that it’s not just the authorities looking for the client, his former associates are as well. In the midst of that, speaking of headaches, Carl wakes up one morning, can’t remember much about the night before — other than there was a lot of alcohol, a blonde, and more alcohol involved — with a woman’s name tattooed on his chest. He just has no idea whose name that is.

Believe it or not — that’s not all there is to this book. A whole lot of plot lines — many of which overlap in very odd ways — Carl’s got to save his own skin, save his client’s, get his client to see his mother, find out who belongs to that name (and how it got on him), help his partner with a case and her crisis….aaand a few other things. On the whole, Lashner keeps things moving enough to keep you turning pages, yet doesn’t let the multiple storylines confuse the reader.

Each character here is something else — all individual, all worth more time than we end up spending with them. More than anything, his characters impressed me. Whether it’s the agoraphobic pervert, the taxi driver with a shady past, the lawyer with a dark secret, the stripper trapped by a childhood tragedy — they’re all real, they’re all human, they’re all fully formed. Really strong stuff there.

I wasn’t wowed by this book, but I was engaged and entertained. Victor’s not as fun as Andy Carpenter, nor his style and case up to the standards of Mickey Haller — but he’s no slouch. I’m probably sold enough to track down book one and dip my toe into this stream at least one more time.

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Tag: Victor Carl

Hostile Witness by William Lashner

Hostile Witness

Marked Man by William Lashner

Marked Man